NEW YORK, N.Y. (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | New Jersey City University will rejoin the Skyline Conference as an affiliate member in the sport of men's volleyball for the 2020 season, the conference office has announced.
 
NJCU and long-time rival Ramapo College will rejoin the league beginning in the 2019-20 academic year. The two institutions were extended affiliate membership after a vote by the Skyline Conference presidents council. NJCU and Ramapo both left the league following the 2017 season.
 
Shawn Tucker, NJCU's Director of Athletics and Associate Vice President, said: "we are pleased to return to the Skyline Conference as an affiliate member and feel it's a mutually-beneficial partnership for both our institution and the Skyline. The goal of every college athletics team is to have an opportunity to compete for a championship and as an independent, our student-athletes were missing that experience. We are optimistic NJCU men's volleyball will be able to compete every year for a Skyline championship and a chance to compete in the NCAA Tournament."
 
NJCU left the Skyline Conference after the 2017 season and played as an independent in 2018 and 2019. The New Jersey Athletic Conference—the Gothic Knights' primary sport conference—officially sponsored men's volleyball as a conference sport for the first time in 2019, with NJCU, Ramapo, Kean University and Rutgers-Newark fielding programs. While the NJAC has weekly awards and an all-conference team in the sport, the league does not have an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament because fewer than seven conference-affiliated programs sponsor men's volleyball.
 
NJCU previously was a Skyline Conference affiliate member for six seasons (2012-17) and qualified for five consecutive Skyline Conference Tournaments from 2012-16, reaching the league semifinals four times. NJCU owns an all-time Skyline record of 46-35 (.568) in 81 matches.
 
"Rejoining the Skyline as an affiliate member will instantly raise the profile of our men's volleyball program," said Robert Cole, NJCU's Director of Volleyball Operations and current women's volleyball coach, who also coached the men's team during its previous affiliation with the Skyline. "It will give our current and future student-athletes an opportunity to play for an AQ in a local and competitive conference. We thank the Skyline Conference for this opportunity and we look forward to continued success for our men's volleyball program."
 
Head men's volleyball coach Jorge Rodriguez, who completed his second season at the helm of the Gothic Knights in 2019, added: "I think rejoining the Skyline will give our players more motivation and a long-term goal each season of something to play for. Every team wants to make the playoffs and have a chance for a conference title. I'm looking forward to competing for a Skyline championship next year."
 
NJCU and Ramapo will bring the total sponsorship in the conference for men's volleyball to eight institutions. Core Skyline members that sponsor the sport include: College of Mount Saint Vincent, Purchase College, St. Joseph's College-Brooklyn, St. Joseph's College-Long Island, Sarah Lawrence College and Yeshiva University.
 
Member institutions will undertake a double-round-robin schedule in the 2020 campaign, leading into a four-team Skyline Conference Men's Volleyball Championship tournament next April. The winner will receive the conference's automatic bid to the 2020 NCAA Division III Men's Volleyball Championship; the final four of that tourney will be contested April 24-25, 2020, in Dubuque, Iowa.
 
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